NG_Deep Space Probes
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00:00In the face of deadly radiation, raging sun storms, and asteroids the size of Mount Everest,
00:09robot space probes are opening up a whole new frontier of exploration for mankind. Right now,
00:18millions of miles away in deep space, probes on Mars and on Saturn's moon Titan may be on
00:26the verge of answering one of our most fundamental questions. Could life exist on other worlds?
00:34Since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s, man has sent over 200 robotic probes into space.
00:57Millions or even hundreds of millions of miles from home, these astonishing machines are our
01:05eyes and ears in space, orbiting other worlds, landing on alien moons. Probes have shown us
01:13the universe up close and personal. They have brought back samples from moons and comets,
01:20even from the Sun itself. These are delicate, super sophisticated machines, yet they must
01:29survive the brutal battering of launch, the savage cold and radiation of space,
01:34all to help science solve the great mysteries of our solar system. Each generation of probes
01:41is more sophisticated than the last. Now decades of design and experiment have culminated in the
01:47two most ambitious probe missions ever set to explore the two worlds in our solar system that
01:54most resemble our own planet Earth. Mars, cold, almost airless, and flooded with deadly radiation.
02:03Yet this is one of the few places we might find liquid water, a vital ingredient for life as we
02:09know it. But safely landing two large and delicate rovers on the surface of an alien world, after a
02:16journey of nearly 300 million miles, is a near impossible challenge. And then Titan, Saturn's
02:23largest moon, so cold that its rocks are made of water ice and its rivers are liquid methane. Titan
02:31closely resembles Earth billions of years ago. Reaching this mysterious world requires a seven
02:38year journey, passing through the asteroid belt, and an encounter with Saturn's deadly rings.
02:44Scientists hope that somewhere on these worlds they may find clues to answering
02:50mankind's most fundamental question, is there life elsewhere in the universe?
02:56NASA's plans to send two rovers to Mars got underway in the year 2000. Their mission,
03:04to spend three months exploring the red planet's surface. The mission's principal investigator,
03:11Professor Steve Squires, has dedicated 16 years of his life to making this ambitious
03:17mission a reality. I had absolutely no idea how rough it was actually gonna be.
03:25A lot rides on this mission. Two previous probes to Mars have failed. The first was
03:34planned to orbit around the planet. It missed and burned up in the atmosphere. The cause,
03:40a mix-up between Imperial and metric units. Then, just ten weeks later, they lost its sister probe.
03:48Our mission arose from catastrophe. We had two missions that preceded us,
03:55Polar Lander and Climate Orbiter, that were both lost at Mars.
03:59Squires' project is mission almost impossible. He has just under three years to build and
04:06launch the two rovers. Either we were gonna go to Mars when we did, or we probably were
04:11never gonna go at all. And so we had this absolutely inflexible deadline.
04:17The schedule is seriously tough, but the real challenges are technical. The probes
04:24must survive a bone-shaking launch, a seven-month flight, and then hit a re-entry window just four
04:31miles across, traveling at 12,000 miles per hour. In the atmosphere, a complex parachute
04:38system will decelerate the probes to just 12 miles per hour. They will bounce to a standstill
04:44using a series of airbags. Only once the protective casing opens can their mission begin.
04:51To design and build two Mars rovers from scratch in just three years is an incredible challenge.
05:02But the engineers have one big advantage. Three years earlier, when two Mars missions failed,
05:09one other mission, Pathfinder, succeeded. Pathfinder was the first roving vehicle to
05:17have been safely delivered to another planet. It didn't travel far, but proved it could be done.
05:23The two new rovers are scaled-up versions of the original, but there's a problem. The rovers get
05:30scaled up and up. More and more instruments get added. A panoramic camera, sophisticated
05:37geological tools, a microscope, then large solar panels to power it. When we actually got down to
05:44the business of stuffing it into the lander, it was about 10% too big. It wouldn't fit in the lander.
05:53The team's set to work to build a bigger craft to transport the rover through space to its final
06:00destination. Next, the rovers themselves must prove their worth. After two years of intensive design
06:13and assembly, the team gets its first chance to see them in action. After so much struggle, it's an
06:21emotional moment. To actually see a fully assembled rover come to life for the first time brought tears
06:30to my eyes. I mean, I try to be the, you know, tough space explorer guy, but that was just too much.
06:36That was an overwhelming feeling. This is the Sandbox, a simulation of Martian terrain at
06:44NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs in California. To collect the samples and images the team needs, the rovers
06:52must travel miles over a harsh terrain of dust and rock in temperatures as low as minus 120 degrees
06:58Celsius. Key to their survival is an innovative wheel design that should help protect the rovers'
07:05delicate instruments. The spokes have a unique spiral pattern to absorb shock. They're made from
07:13a special material called solimide, which can flex at extremely low temperatures.
07:20Cleverest of all, rather than using springs, the rover bends at its joints like human limbs.
07:27This allows the probe to climb over rocks bigger than the diameter of its own wheel.
07:36With the rover's design now set, the team at last knows how much the vehicle will weigh.
07:42With just seven months left, it's time to finalize the design of the parachutes.
07:51They must be capable of opening in the thin Martian atmosphere at supersonic speeds.
07:57Lead engineer for this phase of the mission is Adam Stelzner. At about a thousand miles an hour,
08:02we open up a parachute. The parachute takes us down to a couple of hundred miles an hour.
08:09The parachute is a disc-gap band design with two key parts.
08:15The upper part, called the disc, inflates to the shape of an upside-down bowl 30 feet across.
08:22This provides most of the drag. The band suspended below the disc helps to stabilize the system.
08:31The design must be perfect, and for that, they need to test it.
08:36The trouble is that simulating the immense speeds that occur on entry to the Martian atmosphere simply isn't viable.
08:45To compensate for these lower speeds, they must add an 8,000-pound weight, four times heavier than the actual spacecraft.
08:53The system must work perfectly, first time, a hundred million miles from home.
09:01The test weight was lifted to around 3,000 feet by a Chinook helicopter.
09:06The first big, full-scale parachute test. We feel very confident, everyone's good, it's a beautiful day.
09:11On the ground, the engineers watch confidently as the helicopter releases the giant dart.
09:17Then, disaster. The parachute shreds dramatically. It will never be strong enough to use on Mars.
09:29They can't increase the size or strength of the parachute.
09:32With every pound of weight a premium on the spacecraft, it needs to fit inside a 10-by-17-inch bag.
09:40So, they create three new designs, with different fabrics and different-sized discs and bands.
09:45To save time, they test them in the biggest wind tunnel in the world, housed at NASA's Ames Research Center in Northern California.
09:53Huge fan turbines simulate high wind speeds by sucking air through the vast chamber.
09:59With the turbines on, the newly designed parachute is flung into the atmosphere.
10:04This time, the parachute fails to open properly, flapping half-open, half-closed.
10:09An unusual phenomenon called squidding. It's unexpected, and disastrous.
10:16After the test, they discover the problem. The main vent hole at the top is bigger than it should be.
10:22With time running out, they shrink the hole by half.
10:26At first, it begins to squid. But then, suddenly, it opens.
10:31At last, they have a parachute that can slow the spacecraft in the thin atmosphere of Mars.
10:38By May 2003, the spacecraft is ready to launch.
10:43But it's not yet ready to take off.
10:47Now, just weeks before the launch, the team discover that the small explosive charges designed to release those bolts
10:54are too small to hold the rover in its traveling configuration.
10:59The mission is now in a state of emergency.
11:02The mission is now in a state of emergency.
11:05The mission is now in a state of emergency.
11:08The mission is now in a state of emergency.
11:11Just weeks before the launch, the team discover that the small explosive charges designed to release those bolts may be faulty.
11:19They're little explosive devices that cause a solar panel to deploy, or an arm to deploy, or something,
11:26that allow these things to separate from the vehicle.
11:29If the pyrotechnic system malfunctions, the whole mission could be a write-off.
11:34The timing of discovery couldn't be worse.
11:41Just days to go. The rocket is already on the pad.
11:47This could threaten the whole mission.
11:49If we're not able to launch these things now, it may not make sense to ever fly them.
11:54It's the biggest race of their lives.
11:58After three years of preparation, the Mars rover, Spirit, is ready for launch.
12:05But the last-minute technical problem could force the mission to miss its launch deadline.
12:11At this late stage, opening up the rover is impossible.
12:17The design team have discovered that the pyrotechnic cable cutters that release the rover when it reaches Mars may be faulty.
12:25They can't be sure without checking.
12:30There is only one solution.
12:32To track down the fired pyrotechnic cable cutters used during the testing phase to see whether they were flawed.
12:40If the old ones are functional, then the team can be confident that the new ones on the rover are functional, too.
12:48Kobi Boykins, a mechanical engineer, was involved in the hunt for these old pyros.
12:55Some were in the lab here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
12:59Some were at the Kennedy Space Center.
13:01Some were put away in closets.
13:03Some tests were done early enough that those pieces had been removed from the rovers early on in testing and put in a box.
13:09And that box was put in a cabinet.
13:11With time running out, the engineers tracked down dozens of old pyros.
13:17They test every one of them for the fault.
13:21All of them pass.
13:23And just as they're fueling the second stage of the rocket on the launch pad, the last pyro is discovered.
13:29NASA gives the go-ahead for launch.
13:33It went right down to the wire.
13:35There were many, many times during the development of our spacecraft when I didn't know if we would make it.
13:43I mean, three days before launch, I didn't know if we would make it.
13:48Then, at last, the moment Steve Squires has dreamed of for 16 years.
13:54The launch of the two most ambitious probes ever sent to Mars, Opportunity and Spirit.
14:00Their time has finally come.
14:04First to go is Spirit.
14:06Standing there on the beach in Florida, I didn't know if we had done enough or not.
14:10I didn't know if these things were going to die before they did.
14:15I didn't know if these things were going to die before they did their jobs.
14:19Launch is a risky process.
14:21Millions of dollars of complex engineering can be obliterated in an instant.
14:27There's anxiety, there's anticipation, there's like excitement, happy excitement and dread.
14:35It's all balled up.
14:37The probes sit on top of almost 10,000 gallons of highly explosive rocket fuel.
14:44A rocket is essentially a controlled bomb.
14:46No launch could ever carry a safety guarantee.
14:50As the countdown begins, the engineers wait nervously.
14:56Electronics go and hydraulics go.
14:58Gotta remember to breathe, gotta remember to breathe.
15:00The moment up to the point where they actually light the rocket, where the fire actually starts,
15:06you're sort of sitting there and it's sort of quiet anticipation.
15:09You're just ready for it to go.
15:1210, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
15:20And liftoff of the Delta II rocket carrying the spirit from Earth to planet Mars.
15:27Float relief kit crate is in. Vehicle's responding.
15:30Vehicle's recovering very nicely from the liftoff transients.
15:34We're approaching Mach 1.
15:36Whoo!
15:46It sounds silly. I mean, it's a robot. It's a piece of metal, right?
15:48It's not a human being by any stretch.
15:50But you develop this sort of intense feeling for them
15:55and then, man, you put the thing on top of a rocket and it's gone.
15:59And you realize, I'm never going to see this thing again.
16:03We're out there, hoping it's going to go, hoping it's going to go.
16:06Boom, it goes. Glorious, you know, because it's thundering.
16:10Continual rolling thunder, the likes of which you've never heard.
16:16A month later, Squire's watches with his family as Opportunity joins its twin spirit.
16:23Together they begin their epic journey to Mars.
16:27But why do we keep going back to the red planet?
16:31The answer is water.
16:34Older probes in orbit around Mars have revealed telltale signs
16:38of ancient water erosion on the Martian landscape.
16:42Gullies, riverbeds, perhaps even oceans.
16:46And where there's water, there might just be life.
16:50The signs are unmistakable.
16:53Planetary geologist Professor Phil Christensen
16:56studies how water erodes our planet's surface.
17:01From orbit, we can look down from above and see the entire planet.
17:04So, just like in a helicopter, you get a totally different view
17:07than if you're down walking on the surface.
17:09This aerial view shows clearly how water erosion
17:13carves the features that you see in Arizona today.
17:17On Mars, the landscape is very similar to this.
17:20Some of the canyons form by very rapid floods,
17:23where canyons larger than these can form in a matter of days.
17:28On Mars, these features formed millions or even billions of years ago.
17:33They raise a tantalizing possibility.
17:37We know that liquid water was the source of water erosion
17:40in the early part of the 20th century.
17:43We know that liquid water was the crucial substance
17:46that allowed life to evolve on our planet.
17:49Could the same thing have happened on Mars?
17:53If even simple life once flourished here,
17:56it would suggest that life can get started anywhere in the universe
18:00that there's liquid water.
18:02Life could be everywhere.
18:05On the other hand, if Mars never evolved life,
18:08then perhaps we're completely alone.
18:13Both rovers will land in areas that might once have been lakes.
18:18Their mission is to learn more about the way water
18:21may have shaped the Red Planet.
18:24They may even find clues that will help future missions
18:27solve the biggest question of all.
18:30Has life in some form ever existed on Mars?
18:35First, the rovers need to get there.
18:37They must complete a dangerous trip through space
18:41of almost 300 million miles.
18:45The first three months of the journey to Mars goes as planned.
18:49Then, mission control receives some alarming news.
18:55Scientists at the US Space Environment Center
18:58have just recorded a massive burst of solar radiation from the sun.
19:02A solar flare bigger than any witnessed in history
19:05is on its way towards the delicate probes.
19:09Solar flares are deadly.
19:11They can knock satellites back to Earth
19:14and even fry electrical grid systems.
19:20The biggest solar flare in recorded history
19:24happened while we were on our way to Mars.
19:27It's just the kind of luck that we had with this mission.
19:30If there could be plagues of locusts in space,
19:33it would have happened to us.
19:36The probes navigate by recognizing star patterns.
19:40Squires and his team fear that the bursts of solar radiation
19:44will be interpreted as stars by the probe's navigation system.
19:48This could be disastrous.
19:52The probes could go off course
19:54and never make their rendezvous with Mars.
19:59To solve this, the mission controllers switch to a backup navigation system
20:04that uses the sun itself.
20:09Their other worry is that the solar flare
20:12will damage the probe's computer memory.
20:15All the team can do is wait.
20:21After the storm has passed,
20:23the team reboots the computer to check for damage.
20:27To their enormous relief, the memory is intact.
20:31The probes have survived the biggest solar flare ever recorded.
20:36It turns out that our spacecraft was more robust than most.
20:42After almost 300 million hazardous miles,
20:45the first space probe, Spirit,
20:48now faces the most dangerous part of the mission, landing.
20:53It's relying on yet another novel technology, airbags.
20:57These will envelop the whole craft and cushion its landing.
21:01Re-entry and landing is the shortest phase of the mission.
21:05Yet a single failure, a single miscalculation,
21:09and the entire mission is a write-off.
21:11You hit the top of the Martian atmosphere
21:13going 25 times the speed of sound.
21:15Six minutes later, you're on the surface.
21:17It's a hell of a ride.
21:19It's been called the six-minute flight.
21:22It's been called the six minutes of terror.
21:24On January the 25th, 2004,
21:27the spacecraft hits the Martian atmosphere
21:3020 times faster than a speeding bullet.
21:33Friction slows it to just 900 miles per hour.
21:43It's time for the parachute to deploy.
21:46But has it opened correctly?
21:52In mission control, they wait nervously for a signal.
21:56Minutes pass.
21:58Then, at last, a faint signal.
22:05The lander is now descending
22:07on a cable hanging below the entry vehicle.
22:10Next, they must wait for the airbags to deploy
22:13and stay intact.
22:15It has to be able to take an impact
22:19at, you know, freeway speeds
22:21running into a pile of rocks.
22:23Finally, seconds before landing,
22:26reverse rockets will fire to soften the impact.
22:30Once again, in mission control,
22:33they wait for a signal.
22:36The craft will be out of radio contact
22:39until it reaches a standstill.
22:41And all of a sudden, it's bouncing and spinning
22:43and it's rolling,
22:45and you lose any capability to communicate whatsoever.
22:48So we lose contact.
22:50You really worry whether the spacecraft has survived.
22:5316 years,
22:55and we're still waiting for a signal.
22:57It's time to go.
22:59It's time to go.
23:01It's time to go.
23:0316 years of work hangs on
23:07whether in that next moment
23:09you get a radio signal or you don't.
23:11By now, 100 million miles away on Mars,
23:15it's already over.
23:17The probe is either safely down
23:19or it has crashed.
23:21A signal is either traveling through space
23:23towards them or it's over.
23:25All the team can do now is wait.
23:30The space probe has landed on Mars
23:34after a terrifying deceleration
23:36from 12,000 miles per hour
23:38to zero in six minutes.
23:41In NASA's mission control,
23:43they're waiting for a signal
23:45to hear whether it survived
23:47the entry, descent and landing phase.
23:50Nervous minutes pass.
23:53Finally, at 8.51,
23:55the rover makes contact with them.
23:59Spirit phones home.
24:15An interplanetary hole in one,
24:17without a doubt.
24:19But there is still one more obstacle
24:21before the probe can start its work.
24:23Would the cable cutters
24:25that nearly grounded the probe
24:28when the explosive bolts fired?
24:30Or would the most complex
24:32robotic vehicle ever designed
24:34be trapped on its lander
24:36for the rest of time?
24:41If everything works the right way,
24:43the rover will unfold itself,
24:45deploying its solar panels
24:47and panoramic camera.
24:51The rover sends the first pictures
24:53back to mission control.
24:55Three hours after landing,
24:58the images arrive.
25:00They are the first concrete proof
25:02that the rover is operational.
25:06I'm sorry.
25:08I'm just blown away by this.
25:10I will attempt no science analysis
25:12because it looks like nothing
25:14I've ever seen before in my life.
25:16But for me, it was just this
25:18immense burden
25:20being lifted from my shoulders
25:22that we would never get to Mars.
25:24You know, here was a signal
25:26from the world that we had built it for
25:28for the first time.
25:30The human species got a new definition
25:32of Mars that evening.
25:34And to see those images
25:36the first time they come down,
25:38that, I'll never forget that.
25:40The very best moment
25:42of the whole mission
25:44was that first moment
25:46when we had six wheels
25:48in the dirt on Mars.
25:50That, to me, was the triumphant moment.
25:53Spirit's sister probe,
25:55Opportunity,
25:57lands safely three weeks later.
25:59Against enormous odds,
26:01Squires and his team
26:03have landed the two largest
26:05and most complex rovers
26:07ever sent to Mars.
26:09Their mission to search for signs of water
26:11has begun.
26:13Now the rovers must contend
26:15with the harsh conditions of Mars.
26:17Dust storms,
26:19rocks and craters.
26:22Avoiding all this
26:24falls to rover driver Scott Maxwell.
26:26I have the greatest job in two worlds.
26:28I come in every day
26:30and I look at pictures from another world
26:32that nobody's ever seen before.
26:34It's very much like a video game.
26:36And we have a 3D copy of the rover
26:38that we put down inside that video game
26:40and we drive it around.
26:42Every evening, the driving team
26:44uploads the commands for the day
26:46to the rovers' onboard computers.
26:48The sun gets strong enough
26:51to power the rovers
26:53for just four hours every day.
26:55During that time,
26:57they can travel up to 330 feet.
26:59But they don't usually travel that far.
27:01They find an area
27:03with interesting rocks and soil
27:05then they stay to explore.
27:07Cameras onboard the rovers
27:09help them avoid obstacles
27:11like rocks and craters.
27:13As they're driving along
27:15they can take pictures of the world
27:17and reason about what's in it.
27:20Only eight days into the mission,
27:22Opportunity rover comes across
27:24some strange rocks.
27:26They're small and perfectly round.
27:28The team nicknamed them
27:30Blueberries.
27:32On Earth, blueberry-shaped rocks
27:34normally only form in liquid water.
27:36Could these be proof
27:38that there was once a lake here?
27:40Geologists are trying to figure out
27:42what caused the rocks to form
27:44on the surface of the planet.
27:46Before the mission even began,
27:48she had predicted that
27:50if water once existed on Mars
27:52the probes might find formations
27:54of this kind.
27:56When the rovers sent back
27:58those first images
28:00from Opportunity,
28:02we saw those balls
28:04and we just went crazy.
28:06The team is delighted.
28:08The mission to search
28:10for signs of ancient life
28:12has come to an end.
28:14The search for signs of ancient water
28:16is bearing fruit.
28:18Then comes even more evidence.
28:20The rovers discover
28:22two minerals,
28:24gothite and jarosite,
28:26which could only be formed
28:28in the presence of water.
28:30After four decades of looking,
28:32they now have hard evidence.
28:34Groundwater did once flow
28:36over Martian rocks.
28:38Oh, I think the evidence is overwhelming
28:40that they have evidence for water on Mars.
28:42On Earth,
28:44water means life.
28:46If there is still water
28:48flowing on Mars,
28:50who knows what future missions might find.
28:52But water alone
28:54is not enough
28:56to get life started.
28:58That requires a complex soup
29:00of organic chemicals as well.
29:02On Earth, life started
29:04just under four billion years ago.
29:06And since then,
29:08our planet has become a very different place.
29:10We can't go back in time
29:12to study the conditions on early Earth.
29:14But we can still study those conditions
29:16today on another world.
29:20Saturn's moon, Titan,
29:22is the only moon in our solar system
29:24with a planet-like atmosphere.
29:26But until 1980,
29:28no one knew what that atmosphere was made of.
29:30That changed
29:32when the Voyager 1 probe
29:34flew through the Saturn system
29:36and made an astounding discovery.
29:40Titan's atmosphere
29:42contained organic materials
29:44a lot like the ones that eventually
29:46formed life on Earth.
29:48Could Titan be at the same stage
29:50in its life that Earth was
29:52around four billion years ago?
29:56Going to Titan,
29:58in some respect, is like time travel.
30:00But reaching Saturn's
30:02mysterious moon
30:04is a challenge far greater
30:06than any mission to Mars.
30:08Reaching Mars takes seven months.
30:10A mission to Saturn
30:12takes seven years,
30:14and it must negotiate not only
30:16the asteroid belt,
30:18but the 165,000 mile obstacle
30:20of Saturn's rings.
30:26In 1990,
30:28the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
30:30was born.
30:32It's one of the most ambitious missions
30:34ever to our outer solar system.
30:36The mission came in two parts.
30:38The Cassini orbiter,
30:40built by NASA,
30:42will take the most close-up images
30:44of Saturn's rings.
30:46Traveling with the orbiter
30:48is the Huygens probe,
30:50designed by the European Space Agency.
30:52This will touch down on Titan,
30:54the first probe to land anywhere
30:56in the outer solar system.
30:58Professor John Czarnecki
31:00of the Open University
31:02is one of the leading scientists
31:04on the Huygens probe.
31:06Titan is halfway
31:08across our solar system,
31:10so we really were
31:12out even a little bit crazy
31:14ever to take this on.
31:16Another member of the team
31:18has been waiting 20 years
31:20to see below the orange clouds
31:22of Titan.
31:24Professor Jonathan Lanine
31:26of the University of Arizona.
31:28To completely understand Titan,
31:30to see what was underneath
31:32this interesting,
31:34organic-rich atmosphere,
31:36it was necessary to send
31:38a probe and an orbiter.
31:40For the design team,
31:42creating a probe for Titan
31:44is a prodigious challenge.
31:46Titan's atmosphere is so thick
31:48that we cannot see through it
31:50to the surface.
31:52Prior to landing there,
31:54we cannot even be sure
31:56what Titan is made of.
31:58Professor Czarnecki
32:00and his team
32:02design a small spike
32:04that would penetrate
32:06the mysterious surface
32:08on landing.
32:10The spike is the very first
32:12instrument to touch
32:14the surface of Titan.
32:16It sends its data
32:18back to Earth
32:20for analysis.
32:22In the laboratory,
32:24scientists compare the electrical
32:26signature of different surfaces,
32:28some soft, some hard,
32:30giving them a wealth of data.
32:32We didn't know
32:34if it was solid or liquid.
32:36It was that bad,
32:38our understanding
32:40or our knowledge of the surface.
32:42We had no idea if we'd float
32:44on liquid methane
32:46or we'd thud down onto a hard,
32:48icy surface.
32:50On the 15th of October,
32:521997,
32:54after seven years in construction,
32:56the Cassini-Huygens probe
32:58is ready for launch.
33:00The spacecraft is enormous,
33:02the size of a bus.
33:06At the time,
33:08it took the largest rocket
33:10in NASA's arsenal,
33:12the huge Titan 4B Centaur
33:14launch vehicle,
33:16to send the probe into space.
33:18The rocket weighs
33:201,000 tonnes.
33:22It's the height of a 22-storey
33:24building, and at
33:264.43 in the morning,
33:28the final countdown begins.
33:32Across the world,
33:348,000 engineers and technicians
33:36hold their collective breath.
33:38The previous launch
33:40of a European space mission
33:42called Cluster saw the rocket
33:44explode shortly after take-off,
33:46destroying the $500 million
33:48spacecraft and shattering
33:50the dreams of hundreds of scientists.
33:56All the team can do
33:58is watch and pray.
34:00Professor
34:02Marty Tomasco of the University of Arizona
34:04built the camera
34:06that would take the first pictures of Titan's
34:08surface. It was only about
34:10the fourth launch of a Titan 4
34:12for a civil space mission,
34:14and I believe the launch
34:16before us blew up on the pad.
34:18I was such a basket case
34:20during the Cassini launch.
34:22Many people have lost spacecraft,
34:24payloads, work
34:26because the rocket blows up.
34:285, 4,
34:303, 2,
34:321, and liftoff
34:34of the Cassini spacecraft
34:36on a billion-mile trek to Saturn.
34:38Right on time,
34:40the rocket takes off.
34:42The launch goes
34:44without a hitch.
34:46The rocket rises
34:48high above the platform.
34:50Cassini's perilous 7-year journey
34:52to Saturn has begun.
35:06The spacecraft
35:08uses the gravitational pull
35:10from Venus, Earth,
35:12and from Jupiter to gain enough
35:14momentum to reach Saturn.
35:18When the probe approaches a planet,
35:20the gravity of that large body
35:22takes over, propelling it past,
35:24this time faster.
35:26Engineer on flight
35:28operations on the Cassini-Huygens
35:30mission is David Doody.
35:32When a spacecraft flies by
35:34Jupiter to get a gravity assist,
35:36it's taking some of Jupiter's
35:38momentum to speed up
35:40the spacecraft.
35:42But along the way, there are many dangers.
35:44There's always the chance
35:46of micrometeoroids,
35:48small dust
35:50particles, grains of sand, which
35:52are travelling at thousands of miles
35:54an hour.
35:56The next obstacle is the beautiful
35:58but deadly rings of Saturn.
36:00This is the largest space probe
36:02ever built.
36:04Now it must make it through an area
36:06of ice to Saturn's moon, Titan.
36:12For the mission to succeed,
36:14the Huygens probe must send its data
36:16from the surface of Titan back to the
36:18orbiting mothership, Cassini.
36:22Cassini will then relay
36:24the information to Earth.
36:28If this communication system fails,
36:30the Huygens mission will be worthless.
36:32The scientists decide
36:34to test Cassini's antenna
36:36before it arrives.
36:38Using a giant radio
36:40telescope on Earth, they send
36:42signals to Cassini to test its
36:44responses.
36:48But to their surprise,
36:50the data they get back
36:52is garbled data.
36:54Their expensive radio receiver
36:56on Cassini is faulty.
36:58We were in deep despair.
37:00It really looked as if
37:02we'd lost the Huygens mission.
37:04Without a functioning
37:06communications link, the multi-million
37:08dollar Huygens probe is just useless
37:10space junk.
37:12It was devastating.
37:14All the six
37:16instruments on board the spacecraft
37:18would not be able to send
37:20their data. And instead of getting
37:22beautiful images of lakes
37:24and rivers and soggy
37:26beaches on Titan,
37:28there'd be nothing.
37:30The only thing on the engineer's
37:32side is time.
37:34The probes are still three years
37:36out from Saturn.
37:38The faulty receiver is unable to pick up
37:40the probe's signal.
37:42They have three years to come up with a fix.
37:44And they find one.
37:50They calculate that they should alter
37:52Cassini's orbit, so that its speed
37:54in relation to Huygens is more constant.
37:56This enables
37:58Cassini to pick up Huygens' transmission
38:00and send the data back to Earth.
38:02New instructions
38:04are transmitted over millions of
38:06miles of space to Cassini.
38:08In theory,
38:10it should work, but it's four
38:12more years before it's put to the
38:14ultimate test.
38:16However careful one is,
38:18occasionally,
38:20human errors do crop up
38:22and slip through the net.
38:24Before the fixed
38:26communication system can prove its worth,
38:28Cassini and Huygens have to
38:30overcome one last deadly obstacle.
38:32Saturn's rings
38:34looming on its horizon.
38:38These rings are made up of billions
38:40of pieces of rock and chunks of ice
38:42from the size of a dust grain
38:44to the size of a house.
38:48Saturn is 95 times
38:50as massive as Earth,
38:52and its enormous gravitational field
38:54captures any passing objects
38:56into its orbit to form the rings.
39:02These rings are wide,
39:04nearly 165,000 miles,
39:06but very thin,
39:08only about half a mile of beautiful
39:10but deadly rock and ice.
39:14To reach Titan,
39:16Cassini-Huygens will have to fly
39:18right through the gap between the
39:20F and G rings,
39:22using its main antenna as a shield.
39:24One miscalculation
39:26and the huge probe will smash
39:28into a million pieces.
39:36June the 30th, 2004.
39:38Cassini prepares
39:40to enter orbit.
39:42Millions of dollars and entire
39:44professional careers are on the line.
39:46Mission control
39:48waits for a signal
39:50that the probe is still intact and operating.
39:52Cassini rotates
39:54its giant antenna
39:56and heads towards the gap.
39:58Mission control waits
40:00nervously for the signal
40:02that the six-ton, three-billion-dollar
40:04spacecraft has survived.
40:08Nineteen minutes later,
40:10a signal comes through.
40:12Johnson just reported a signal.
40:14We've survived the ring plane crossing
40:16The probe has survived,
40:18though not completely unscathed.
40:20The Cassini spacecraft
40:22was hit about 500,000 times
40:24as it went through the ring plane
40:26at that point.
40:28Fortunately, all of the hits
40:30were of tiny particles
40:32the size of smoke particles.
40:34Despite the hits,
40:36the probe is still functioning.
40:38It's time for Cassini
40:40to release Huygens
40:42for its mission to Titan.
40:47On January the 14th, 2005,
40:50Huygens positions itself
40:52for entry into the thick, foggy atmosphere.
40:56On board, a camera is set
40:58to take the first ever pictures
41:00of this mysterious moon.
41:04This literally
41:06was the culmination of,
41:08for many of us,
41:10more than 15 years of work.
41:12It was success or failure
41:14in a matter of just a few hours.
41:16I had nightmares for many years
41:18that this just wouldn't work
41:20and we would not get a single piece of data
41:22from Huygens.
41:24Unlike the Mars landers with their airbags,
41:26the Huygens probe has only parachutes
41:28to slow down its fall.
41:30There are three of them,
41:32and they should give the probe time
41:34to take the first pictures of Titan
41:36from below the clouds.
41:40But danger heightens
41:42as the probe approaches.
41:44It will be four hours before Huygens
41:46can contact Cassini
41:48to confirm it's safely on the surface.
41:50Until then, the team can only hope
41:52for the best.
41:54But, unexpectedly,
41:56one of the telescopes tracking Cassini
41:58picks up a signal direct from Huygens itself,
42:00just an hour after the probe has landed,
42:02three hours before Cassini
42:04can relay the signal to mission control.
42:08The signal is incredibly faint,
42:10but proof that Huygens
42:12is alive and well
42:14on the surface of Titan.
42:24The strength of the signal
42:26received on the Earth
42:28from Huygens was unbelievably small.
42:30I think it's something like the equivalent
42:32to putting a mobile phone
42:34on the surface of the Moon.
42:36Huygens was alive
42:38and transmitting directly back from Titan,
42:40the first probe
42:42to land on a celestial body
42:44in the outer solar system.
42:48Huygens has survived the landing,
42:50but the real data signal
42:52is still to come.
42:54I'd been preparing
42:56for this for many years,
42:58and I think because one always knew
43:00that it might fail,
43:02we might receive no data,
43:04I'd sort of prepared
43:06some sort of emotional barrier
43:08in case it didn't work.
43:10Three hours later,
43:12and seven nail-biting minutes
43:14after Cassini was supposed to transmit,
43:16mission control begins receiving data
43:18back from Saturn's most extraordinary Moon.
43:28Here, for about two minutes,
43:30were these thumbnail images
43:32of Titan's surface,
43:34of Cassini and of the surface of Titan
43:36coming at you one every second.
43:38So it was this incredible emotional experience,
43:40and people were screaming
43:42as these pictures came through
43:44for about two minutes.
43:46The first pictures, though,
43:48are of Huygens' descent.
43:50The landscape looks similar
43:52to parts of our own planet.
43:54The camera has less resolution
43:56than a modern mobile phone,
43:58yet the images are detailed enough
44:00to show a rocky landscape,
44:02but with a difference.
44:04We're pretty certain
44:06that it's the equivalent
44:08of sand or gravel.
44:10But in the case of Titan,
44:12the sand and gravel is not made
44:14of rocky material, stony material,
44:16like it is on the Earth.
44:18The bedrock on Titan is ice.
44:20Back in space,
44:22Cassini's special infrared cameras
44:24reveal that Titan's surface
44:26has undergone geological processes
44:28similar to those on Earth.
44:30Lava flows, and even volcanoes.
44:36Cassini is set to continue
44:38gathering data until at least 2008.
44:40In that time,
44:42scientists are confident
44:44that they will learn new
44:46and extraordinary things
44:48about this strange world,
44:50learning more about the chemicals
44:52that gave rise to life here on Earth
44:54almost four billion years ago.
45:01Both Mars and Titan
45:03are helping us build
45:05an ever more complete picture
45:07of how our solar system formed.
45:09And there's more to come.
45:14NASA is studying
45:16future missions to Mars,
45:18including the possibility
45:20of collecting samples
45:22and returning them to Earth.
45:24There is even an idea
45:26to send an airship-style probe
45:28from Mars to Titan
45:30to travel through its atmosphere
45:32gathering data.
45:36Probes such as Cassini-Huygens,
45:38Spirit, and Opportunity
45:40are the pinnacle
45:42of human technical achievement.
45:44Through them,
45:46we have learned secrets
45:48that would otherwise
45:50have remained mysteries forever.
45:52I think exploring the planets,
45:54exploring the solar system
45:56gives us a better view
45:58of ourselves and our planet.
46:00And where probes go today,
46:02perhaps people will go tomorrow.
46:04One of the things that we're doing,
46:06I hope, with this mission
46:08is exploring the next generation
46:10of scientists and engineers
46:12who are going to go to Mars
46:14and do stuff better
46:16than we were able to do it.
46:18Because they saw this on television,
46:20because they saw these pictures
46:22on the Internet,
46:24wherever future generations may go,
46:26whatever they may achieve,
46:28one thing is certain.
46:30Probes will go ahead of them,
46:32revealing new knowledge
46:34and new mysteries.
46:36And perhaps one day,
46:38there will even be a probe
46:40that delivers the ultimate news
46:42that we are not alone.
46:54NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology